UN Celebrates Diwali For The First Time; The Festival Of Lights

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The United Nations for the first time is celebrating the Indian festival of lights – Diwali, at its Headquarters in New York after it was declared as a non-meeting day and was recognized by the 69th session of the UN General Assembly through a resolution adopted on 29th December 2014.

The UN headquarter in New York was lit up on Saturday evening and displayed a lamp with the message of “Happy Diwali” written in blue light to celebrate the spirit of the festival.

The lamp will continue to be lit for three evenings.

Syed Akbaruddin, India’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN, shared a photograph of the decorated building on micro blogging site Twitter thanking and wishing everyone in the lights of festival.

The Sydney Opera House in Australia too turned golden for a night in celebration of the festival.

Earlier in June, the UN building was lit up on the occasion of the International Yoga Day, with images of Yoga postures projected on the imposing headquarters.